


358/2 isn't a real tempo pass it on

by banh_bao



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Band geeks - Freeform, bc it's a public school, organization xiii is a marching band pass it on, the high school's music department is severely underfunded, the high school/band au that literally no one asked for, there's a lot of unnecessary profanity in here lmao, xion is asexual, xion is secretly a memer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-11
Updated: 2015-12-11
Packaged: 2018-05-06 02:44:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5399927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/banh_bao/pseuds/banh_bao
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"At some point, Xion realized the band was probably directly responsible for most of DiZ's rapid aging. Oops."</p><p>Vaguely based on liverpepper au by yourhandiheld</p>
            </blockquote>





	358/2 isn't a real tempo pass it on

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yourhandiheld](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourhandiheld/gifts).



Xion sighed. _Great_. Kairi’s octave key had literally just snapped off, leaving her as the only alto saxophone player. And she’d just started learning last month, dammit! 

 

_I knew I should have stayed with the flutes. Also-fucking-lutely great timing, learning a totally new instrument so close to the concert._

 

“What the actual _fuck_ ,” she whispered, half to herself and half to the older girl. “What do I do? I barely know how to play any of the concert pieces! I’ve just been sight-reading because DiZ never gave me the music!”

 

Kairi glanced up while continuing to fiddle with a wire. “You’ll be fine, you’re not bad at all! Just remember to breathe during the rests, especially when you’re playing Land.”

 

“Yeah, but what about Challenge? Should I play your part too?”

 

“Mhmm, just do your best and you’ll be fine. I’ll try to get this fixed before class ends, okay?”

 

“Alright…”

 

DiZ raised his voice above the din of typical band noises– shuffling papers, muffled (and impressively colorful) swearing, and loud, off-key notes.

 

“Let’s start with a B flat scale, everyone. I’ll count you off. One, two, three.” He tapped the baton against the stand.

 

A nearly simultaneous note came from all the instruments. Or, most of them, anyway. 

 

_That’s the worst concert scale I’ve ever heard._

 

DiZ cut the noise.

 

“Everyone stop. You aren’t listening to each other. We’ll start again, but this time, I want you to actually listen and count to four. Snare drum, don’t play.”

 

The band started again, this time in sync. _Scales aren’t too bad,_ thought Xion. _I’ve got this._  Everything was working and she mostly knew what she was doing. Also, chords were fucking bomb.

 

Unfortunately for her, warmup ended quickly and they moved straight into playing. Hah, straight. Unlike her.

 

“We will be doing a full runthrough of the program today. Don’t forget that the holiday concert is next Tuesday, so we need to start playing seriously– yes, that includes you, percussion. The order will be Wood County, Challenge, ’Twas, Land, Parade, and we'll be ending with Grinch.”

 

She sighed in relief. _Wood County Celebration_ was one of the easier pieces; she could manage on her own. Probably. Of course, that didn’t mean she didn’t suck (the opposite, really). It just meant she was about the same level as everyone around her. That is to say, shit tier.

 

Wood County started off…. well, there was really no way to sugar-coat this. Percussion fucking _sucked_ , except for maybe the bass drummer. DiZ scolded them a bit, and they restarted. This second try went far more smoothly, and she’d only missed a few measures!

 

But.

 

_ But. _

 

_...Oh no. _

 

“Take out _To Challenge the Sky and Heavens Above_ , please.”

 

Fuck everything.

 

**Author's Note:**

> most of this is based off of personal experience in my school's concert band lmao. i might post recordings of the music, who knows. also if it seems like there's way too much robert w. smith in here, that's because my band director has a weird fixation on him (no joke we've played at least two pieces by him every year since fourth grade and it's still going strong)


End file.
